Thursday, July 13, 2006

Some batshit-crazy liberal idea about the new AIDS drug...

Progress, right? We're finally getting AIDS to the point where it's a disease you can live with, just like Diabetes, Arthritis... or Mormonism.

That is, if you're rich. Yes, that's right - the new drug is going to cost and cost big. At $1,100 each month for the prescription, it's more like blood money than drug money.

And I can't help think that isn't fair somehow. Is that where we live? In a world where only the rich survive? Sure, it is! But it doesn't need to be that way.

And in case you're wondering what I'm talking about, let's run the numbers. Let's say you live an average life without any extra expenses.

Rent: $1000 (That's cheap, even in Southern California!)Utilities: $400 (That's electricity, phone, water, and gas - not even basic cable!)Food: $200 (Let's hope you live alone.)Transportation: $400 (That's a cheap car with the bare minimum for insurance.)Gasoline: $100 (Okay, so we forgot that with transportation, but who thinks of the details?)Atripla: $1100

Keep in mind that those with AIDS often incur a host of other expenses for care and medication - but we'll leave those things out, too. Cause, honestly, the Republicans do, too.

So, that gives us a total of $38,400 in expenses for one year, with no luxuries like the medical care that keeps you alive. Just to stay alive, you'll need to make over 50 GRAND each year, thus eliminating anyone making minimum wage... and most others as well. This is how the Republicans move their agenda of keeping AIDS patients dead right along.

Now, why is this? Well, it's because pharmaceutical companies enjoy little or no federal regulation, which is thanks to the hard work of their lobbyists who provide money that gives hard-ons to politicians - and most of them are Republicans. (Who do you think coined the phrase "Fuck Regulations"?) This massive deregulation isn't helping AIDS victims or, well, anyone - but it is helping their CEOs line their pockets, which is what matters most.

1 comment:

You have perfect timing. Just last night I was talking to a guy who was promoted to a Director level in a pharma company. He recently resigned. He said that his ethics kept getting in the way of getting his job done. He saw, on a daily basis, the executives above him making the research and development of drugs take 10X longer than it should be...just for the almighty $$. He said that one of his bosses told him he would either put away his ethics and help them get rich, or quit. So he quit.

It says a lot about him...BUT it says even more about the mentality of that environment.

Being relatively young by retirement standards, this $50K a year to survive scares me. That means I REALLY need to start saving, because we all know Social Security won't be around for us. Because it will be used to pay off the deficit.